1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric vehicle having a plurality of energy supply ports forming a charging port for supplying electric energy to a battery or a fuel supply port for supplying fuel to a fuel tank, and more particularly to an electric vehicle that controls an opening operation performed on a lock mechanism of a lid member for opening and closing the energy supply port.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicles having an electric motor as a drive source include a narrowly defined electric vehicle (EV) having only an electric motor as a power source and a hybrid vehicle (HEV), which serves as a broadly defined electric vehicle having both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine as power sources. In a vehicle (EV) having only an electric motor as a drive source, a charging port is provided to supply electric energy to a battery from the outside. A fast charging port connected to a specialized facility for charging the battery in a short time and a normal charging port connected to a power plug of a residential commercial power source are provided in this type of vehicle (EV) as charging ports. The normal charging port may be provided in a plurality of locations in the vehicle to facilitate a charging operation, whereby one of the plurality of charging ports is selected in accordance with a parking position of the vehicle and the position of the power plug of the commercial power source.
Meanwhile, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2007-245999, a vehicle (HEV) having both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine is provided with a fuel supply port for supplying chemical energy that is burned by the internal combustion engine, for example a gasoline engine, and the fuel that is supplied through the fuel supply port is supplied to a fuel tank. A charging port for supplying electric energy to a battery from the outside may be provided in this type of vehicle (HEV). This type of vehicle is known as a plug-in HEV, and may also be provided with a fast charging port and a normal charging port.
In the narrowly defined electric vehicle and the broadly defined electric vehicle described above, a plurality of charging ports and fuel supply ports are provided in the vehicle as energy supply ports. For example, a plug-in vehicle (HEV) is provided with a fuel supply port and at least one charging port. It is therefore necessary to prevent a situation in which a fuel supply operation and a power supply operation are performed on the vehicle at the same time and a situation in which a charging operation is performed through a plurality of charging ports at the same time.
When both the charging port and the fuel supply port are open, a fuel supply operation using highly volatile fuel and a charging operation in which spark generation is possible may be performed at the same time, and it is necessary to prevent such a situation from arising. Further, when charging is performed through a plurality of charging ports at the same time, the battery may be overcharged and the charger may break, and therefore this situation must also be prevented. When a lid member of the charging port is open, a connection terminal of a female side connector provided in the charging port is exposed to the outside, and therefore, when another charging port is opened inadvertently during the charging operation, an operator may touch the connection terminal of the inadvertently opened charging port. Moreover, when the vehicle is provided with a charging port and a fuel supply port, a charging operation may be performed while the fuel supply port is open, and conversely, a fuel supply operation may be performed while the charging port is open.